Paytm extortion case: Accused Sonia Dhawan appeals for bail; sessions court to hear matter on 23 November

Former Paytm executive Sonia Dhawan, arrested for blackmailing and making an extortion bid on the e-wallet giant’s CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, has reportedly appealed for bail which will be heard by a sessions court in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, on Friday, a media report said. She has been in jail since 22 October, 2018. According to The Indian Express, the judicial custody of Dhawan and her husband, Rupak Jain has been extended by 14 days by the Gautam Budh Nagar district court. Last week the court rejected Jain’s bail plea. [caption id=“attachment_3882505” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Dhawan’s lawyer claimed that she had neither made any extortion nor threat calls or had asked for any money, The Economic Times reported. Last month, two Paytm employees –  Devender Kumar from the administration department and Dhawan – were arrested for allegedly trying to extort Rs 20 crore from the e-wallet company founder Sharma after allegedly threatening to leak stolen personal data and confidential information. Dhawan, who allegedly masterminded the extortion bid, was the secretary of Sharma and was promoted  as Vice President (Corporate communications) of the online payments firm in September.  Along with Dhawan, and Kumar was Rohit Chomal, the third associate based in Kolkata who had threatened to leak the data and misuse the information to cause the firm loss and dent its public image, Noida Police had said. The two employees of the Noida-headquartered e-commerce and wallet firm and Dhawan’s husband was arrested by a team from the Sector 20 police station, while the fourth accused Chomal is still at large, a senior official said. Sharma had made a complaint with the police that his employees, a woman and her aides, had stolen some data from the company and were blackmailing him. They were demanding Rs 20 crore for not leaking it, said senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ajay Pal Sharma said. Taking immediate action, an FIR was registered and three persons, including Dhawan, was arrested. They are being probed about the data and their modus operandi. With inputs from PTI